


The Romance that Never happened

by Farzad1



Category: How I Met Your Mother
Genre: Gen, Love Confessions, Suggestive Themes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-30
Updated: 2019-06-30
Packaged: 2020-05-31 01:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19415308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Farzad1/pseuds/Farzad1
Summary: (This fanfiction is spin on the episode where Barney goes to bring Lily back to new york)





	The Romance that Never happened

‘It wasn’t supposed to go like this. This wasn’t the plan.’Barney thinks to himself as he looks down to the red hair creature snuggled up against his chest. He reaches a hand up to rub the bridge of his nose as he feels a migraine coming on. ‘I was supposed to bring Lily back for Marshall! Not sleep with her! What the hell am I going to do? What the hell am I doing? I’m Barney freaking Stinson, legendary extraordinaire. I don’t feel...things. That's for losers that believe in love like Ted’. He looks down at her again and sighs, ‘Who am I kidding, I’ve been in love with this woman this whole time, I just never wanted to admit it. He starts to slide out of bed slowly, careful not to wake her up to start up some breakfast when Lily moves.  
“You son of a bish Barney Stinson, if you’re sneaking out like you always do I will kill you and that's a promise” she mumbled, her voice muted by her face being squished against the pillows. She lazily shakes her fist at him to prove her sleepy but murderous point.  
“Me, sneak out? Never! I am insulted Lily, how dare you say such awful and true things about me!” He says with his signature smirk. “No I was just about to make some breakfast,”.  
Lily jerks her head to look at him, “You can cook?” she says sarcastically.  
Barney mocks hurt by slapping his hand against his chest and stumbling back. “Lily Aldrin, I have never been more wounded, the breakfast is going to be legen -wait for it- dary!”  
Lily begrudgingly gets out of bed, “Yeah nope, you’re not burning down my apartment, come on, I’ll make it.”.She grumpily grabs her nightgown and walks into the kitchen. As she passes him Barney can’t resist reach down and smacking her butt, a sad smirk on his face. 

….

After breakfast they decided to go and walk around the town, it had been awhile since Barney had been to the west coast, he forgot how beautiful it could be, as well as strange.  
“Is that a man being lead by a leash by that tiny woman? Why is he wearing sparkly purple high heels?” he said genuinely interested.  
“Don’t judge,” said Lily while smacking him lightly on the arm. “Let people do what they want, you of all people have no room to judge Mr. playbook.,” her eyebrows raised in a mocking glance.  
“Hey the playbook is genius! It may seem callous and calculating but it’s effective! Love is like war and you need to have strategies.” He said theatrically, but he noticed that when he said love, Lily’s face had fallen. “Speaking of which, we need to talk about what happened,”.  
“What’s there to talk about?” she said casually, not meeting his eyes.  
“Lily,” Barney grabbed her chin so she would look at him as they sat down on the park bench. “ I came here looking for you, because you belong back in New York, with us, with the group, with… Marshall,” He said with a hard swallow.  
Her eyes started to fill with tears at the hearing his name. She sniffed, wiping her nose with her back of her hand. “What about last night? I know all your plays Barney, I’ve been your wing man more than once before. I know that last night wasn’t a play, it was real, what you said was real.”  
Barney winces at the memory of last night, after too many vodka tonics, he may have said deep personal feelings and thoughts that probably should not have come to light. He sighed, “Last night was a mistake. I should have never said those things, it wasn’t right. I came here to bring you back because you belong with Marshall, you guys are college sweethearts, you guys deserve each other.” His voice was steady but his heart hurt with every word he said. “Plus you’re like disgustingly in love and Marshall has become an absolute menace since you left, he won’t stop asking me out on bro dates, please make it stop!” Barney said trying to be joking to distract from how he was feeling.  
Lily wasn’t buying it, “Oh yeah? And what if I don’t think I belong with Marshal? Not anymore?” she said as she leaned in dangerously close, tears still on her face, but fire in her eyes. She reached up and grabbed his collar, bringing him down her level and smashing her lips against his in a heated kiss.  
It took all of Barney’s strength to pull away, when every part of his body wanted more. “Lily no, you’re upset and looking for comfort, but you’re looking in the wrong places. You don’t love me and you know it. No matter what I said last night, you need to forget it and remember who you are really supposed to be with.” he said, keeping his voice even and strong. Solid in his resolve not to indulge her.  
“Forget ? FORGET?! BARNEY YOU TOLD ME YOU LOVED ME! You Barney freaking Stinson, Mr. Playboy himself who has never loved anything accept his mother, told me! That you love me. I can’t forget that, I refuse to!” she said standing, waving her arms around in a dramatic fashion that he found absolutely adorable.  
“Me, love? Psshhhh. I used to love string cheese and then I cut out dairy, haven’t missed it since.” He says half heartedly trying to get away from the subject. He looked into her eyes though and realized that wasn’t possible, not with her staring so intently at him. “Listen, yes I may have a crush on you, but that's not what I came here for. You love Marshall, you always have and you always will. Last night never happened. But you need to come back. Your life is in New York and you know you hate it here. Your professor is a dick, and you miss your friends, you miss your family, you miss Marshall.”  
“But what about you? What about last night? What do we do? What about this connection between us that we both obviously feel? All those years of flirting finally manifesting into something real.” She asked, her voice strained, tears forming again. And in a quieter voice she whispers, “What is Marshall won’t take me back?”  
Barney tried to hide the hurt that flashed in his eyes, He couldn’t fault her for her pain, for he knew it all too well. “He will take you back, moving on to someone else because you’re scared what you had was lost will only make things worse. “  
“Barney we aren’t talking about someone else, we are talking about you, last night opened my eyes to a possibility that I had never imagined. But now that I see it, I can’t let it go without wondering. We have chemistry between us! What if I’m not meant to be with Marshall, what if I have been wrong this whole time and it’s been you who I am supposed to be with and last night finally brought that too light? How can you so easily dismiss it?” She said, fast and slightly out of breath as if she knew that if she didn’t say it quick, she would never have the courage too again.  
Barney sighed, and with a heavy heart said “I can, because I’m right, because last night was a mistake. Do I have strong feelings for you? Yes I do. And right now you're vulnerable and latching on to anything that will make you feel better. But the truth is Lily, you don’t love me. If you did this would have happened a long time ago and not when you were simply vulnerable.”  
Barney closed his eyes and leaned over to kiss her forehead, his mind made up. “Last night never happened, we never tell anyone about it. It was night of awesome passion, where we both were a little reckless. It doesn’t have to change anything. And it won’t. You are going to come back to New York, you’re going to get back with Marshall, tell him you realized you were wrong and that you belong together and that's it. Nobody ever has to know. Only problem is now you’re really gonna have to fake it in bed after being with a legend, because Marshall will never compare next to the myth, the legend, Barney Stinson, oh self five” he said smiling while taking his arm from around her shoulder and high fiving himself.  
Despite herself, Lily laughed, a sweet, tinkling laugh that seemed like music to Barney’s ears, he had never, he thought sadly, realized just how magical her laugh was. With a deep sigh he steeled himself, stood up, and offered her his arm. “Alright come on, lets go help you pack,”. Lily didn’t answer, she simply stood up, a sad smile on her lips, took his arm, and let him lead her back.

……

Two days later Barney finally made it back to his bachelor pad, absolutely emotionally and physically exhausted he crashed onto his bed. He slept a full 24 hours and didn’t wake up until he got a frantic phone call from Ted telling Lily had come back, telling him to meet the gang at Mclaren's immediately. When he hung up, Barney got dressed in his suit, slapped himself in the face to get his shit together, and headed out the door. Once he got there, he made a comment about Lily’s boobs as disgustingly as he always had, got smacked by Robin, and didn’t behave other than exactly as expected. Not letting anyone know his heart, forming walls around itself was breaking, as he watched Lily and Marshall together again.

…..

At their wedding years later, long after Lily's departure had been forgiven, and love her and Marshall had shared was brought back, the memory of that night was still as fresh as it had happened yesterday for Barney. He ached to tell her his feelings had never changed, that even after all this time she was still the one thing he loved in this world. But when the priest asked if anyone objected, he kept his silence, standing in the grooms line, staring at what had been the most wonderful mirage of his life. He didn’t have to convince himself that he was doing the right thing, looking at Marshall and Lily he could see their love was real, and strong. He knew that all he would ever have, was fantasy.

**Author's Note:**

> Through my research I found trademarks that everyone seems to keep about Barney and Lily. I tried to keep their language believable to what it is like on the show. With Banrey being obnoxious and not taking things seriously and Lily being over dramatic and a little violent. Also I read quite a few fanfictions that showed Barney’s emotional side but either too much or too little so I wanted to do something a little more inbetween. Where he is both serious and funny.


End file.
